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Newman -- Thank you for the welcoming me back to the Bar. If the complexity of my arrangement fettered my vocal, the simplicity of yours did just the opposite. It made it take flight. Lovely job!

Amaruk -- I am stunned by the depth of your artistry. I thought you played it much more soulfully than the arranger --I tried to find the arrangement at his site but only found the lead sheet. I love cinema and music and you weave them together beautifully. Keep weaving.

SwissMs -- I love the calm serenity of your selections and playing. I could always count on you to provide a fine auditory experience, but I'm so delighted that now I can actually see you giving it. Your piano and even the white glow of the Alps encircling you in its aura are just how I pictured them.

Starr Keys I think you Casio sounded great the way you played it here. Great playing and I really liked your arrangement. It is always great to hear you sing on your pieces like this. That is what makes this piano bar so special. Thanks for sharing this with us!

Wouter79 I never heard this piece before but I liked it and you play it great. It sounds like a quite difficult piece but you play it like it was super easy. Well done!!

slpianoproject Amazing is all I can say. The sound of your piano and the way you record it is top notch. Your playing is great and so is the way you use video to present your work. I really liked the split screen effects. Thanks for sharing!

Ladypayne I loved your Winnie the Pooh and Jesus I love Thee. Your arrangements work great this way!! Great playing and mixing it all together like this!!

Casinitaly Great job on this Handel piece. Flubs or not, it sounds great and I know that sometimes we put too high goals on ourselves so just enjoy your playing as you play really good!!

Saranoya That was absolutely wonderful!! I loved and I am sure that it sounded as great when you played it the day before during your recital. Well done and thanks for sharing!!

BillM I always enjoy your performances and when I saw that you were playing a cover of one of my all times favorites pieces, I got very excited. And you delivered as always!! I used to play this piece on piano eons ago but I never managed to capture the spirit of the song as you do in this performance. It is brilliant how you changed the sounds of your piano here. you got a magical piano that is for sure! Well done and thanks for sharing!!

Newman Another master piece from you Newman! Loved it! Is that your own arrangement? Well played and your voice is spot on as always!!

SwissMS That is a lovely piano you got!! Congratulations!!! It sounds great and you play this piece very well. I am looking forward to more videos from you with this fantastic piano. Thanks for sharing!!

Mark Great video with beautiful scenery that match this piece perfectly. Nice touch to end it with a fade to a picture of your piano. This piece is new to me but you play it great! Thanks for sharing!!

My offering this month is a beautiful hymn-like piece called "Love Ballade". It sounds like something composed by Schubert or Bach, but it was actually written and performed by Oscar Peterson. I am playing from the published score.

Starr Keys ~ You have such a melodious voice, and I'm always so impressed with your intricate creative accompaniment, as well.

Bill ~ That was a great lovely arrangement, and I really love the Roland organ setting sound.. One of my favorite all-time songs

Well, here's a little tribute to my sweet kitty, Gwen (AKA Gueneviere), who passed over the Rainbow Bridge at age 18 recently. She always sat by me on the piano bench cushion, sometimes playing an ending note or two, and I'll miss her forever but am very grateful for our time together. :-)

I’m about two weeks shy of having had my piano for two years. Which means I’ve been self teaching/ learning how to play it for two years now.

So I set myself a challenge for today, Easter Monday my time, to play Michelle as below. When I started out I said I didn’t need to learn how to play melody in the RH as I was only interested in vocal accompaniment.

Well, today, after about 4 hours of constant practice (with breaks) I got to do this and am pretty pleased with it.

Amaruk: That was really a pleasure to listen to -and to watch! I think you're very clever to have put that video together and it makes a charming backdrop to the music!

Mark... Even without the video I believe my mental image of the music would have matched the brilliant sunrise and the more subtle wave shots.

Ed - that was hypnotically soothing - what a relaxing piece. A bit of trivia to perhaps take some of the surprise out of this type of music coming from one of our jazz icons....One of Oscar Peterson's first teachers was the student of a student of Liszt - (Peterson - Paul de Marky - Istvan Thoman - Liszt!)

Elssa - I love watching your hands move on the keys - and the music you make. Condolences on the loss of your Gwen -- I haven't had a pet for a very long time, but I remember how hard it is to lose one.

Newman-- I liked the instrumental version! Now you can make a recording with vocals mixed with instrumentals! woohoo!

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

The piano bar is a monthly collection of submissions that folks want to share. You can post as often as you like.

We also have virtual recitals here in the Adult Beginner Forum (ABF) where you make one submission. These recitals open for submission on the first of February, May, August and November and the recital goes "live" - up for listening, on the 15th of those months.

There is also a relatively new development called "Themed recitals" which todate have presented us with a collection of Philip Glass, Erik Satie, and ..coming soon - Mendelssohn's Songs Without Words.For these, a theme is suggested, the pieces listed and you "sign up" for one (or more) of the pieces.

In all of these venues you will hear folks with different amounts of experience performing. The term adult beginner is one that is often questioned ---it is a pretty lose description because some of the "beginners" here have now been playing for 10 years or so as adults. Some played as kids - and then came back after 20, 30 or more years, so really "re-starting" rather than starting from zero.However, the ABFers are such a friendly bunch no-one wants to move off to a different forum!

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

I put this piece a month or so ago in the piano bar when I first discovered it. So here is the final version of it that I played for my midterm last week:). There are still a few mistakes, and I rushed parts of it. Also it is a little long and repeats itself a lot so I took out a page or two. Sorry for the background noise... I recorded it in the orchestra room at work with my cell phone...

Newman - I listened to both of your Michelles' and must say I prefer the vocal version. That probably doesn't mean much as I almost always prefer vocal music to instrumental music. Aside from that preference I think your vocal version was more relaxed and more interesting although I didn't quite get the Soul Train reference and I'm very familiar with Soul Train. Good job on both.

Riddler - It does have sort of a classical feel to it, especially at the beginning. I like the way you give a strong emphasis to the lovely melody on this - while it is a love ballad you infused some power into your performance. Nice

Augustina, that's a lovely piece. It is quite a long piece too, (and you eliminated some!!!) --it must be a challenge to play. I particularly liked the brilliant little bits at the 3 minute mark and in the last minute. It sounds like it would be suitable for a film - something in the woods, with a rippling stream.

ElleC -- I'm blown away by what you can do after 3 months of piano!!! Complimenti!

_________________________ XVIII-XXXVISometimes I try to progress faster than I am ready for.SwissMsFollow your teacher's instructions and practice wisely/much, and you'll soon wonder how you ever found it hard. BobPicklePerformance anxiety: make it part of your daily routine and deal with it...Cope! zrtf90

Thank you Bill and casinitaly. i have so much to learn but I'm really enjoying the pieces I'm able to play in 3 months with no prior experience. I thought I'd be playing twinkle twinkle little star at my first recital last weekend! Thank you again... but of course, constructive criticism is always appreciated.

_________________________
Adult beginner since January 2013. My only regret is that I didn't learn sooner.

Mark Love the piece and how you used it to score your cinematic video. It reminded me of a sequence from a great silent screen classic, but updated with modern technology. I loved how toward the end your piano seemed to be outdoors with the landscape reflected on its innards and the the blue sky touching its outer skin.

Riddler I had no idea Oscar Peterson was such a classicist! I have to get some of the transcripts of his performance of standards based on this performance, as I love classically influenced cocktail music and hope to play it as well as you someday.

This is beautiful work by everyone! All played so smooth, and so amazing! I feel bad that I can only bang on these keys, nothing sounds soft on this piano but I love it anyway. I think I will do my next contribution on my 'soft' cable nelson.

I got a Disney book from eBay last week and picked the shortest song, so here is all I have :